Tryptamine class of compounds have the general core structure

Derivatives of tryptamine and tryptamine analogs, such as homotryptamine, can have substitutions on the amine, the α-carbon, the β-carbon and the indole ring. Because such derivatives are structurally similar to neurotransmitters serotonin and melatonin, many have psychoactive properties. For example, 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, 5-methoxy-α-methyltryptamine, α-methyltryptamine, and α-ethyltryptamine have psychedelic properties and are regulated in the United States as Schedule 1 Controlled Substances. Tryptamine, tryptamine analogs and their derivatives also form the backbone of many drug compounds, for example hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), antiplasmodial spiroindolones (Yeung et al., 2010, J Med Chem. 53:5155-5164), noniceptive spirocyclic cyclohexane derivatives (US patent publication No. 20100240897), and farnesoid X receptor antagonist azepinoindole derivatives (US patent publication No. 20100173824).
Tryptamine derivatives with substitutions at the α-carbon, for example α-methyltryptamine or and α-ethyltryptamine, result in a chiral center, and these enantiomers have been shown to display different bioactivity. For example, S-isomer of α-methyltryptamine shows greater potency than the R-isomer (see, e.g., D. B. Repke et al., 1976, J Heterocycl Chem. 13:775). Different isomers of the antiplasmodial spiroindolones, which have chiral α-methyltryptamine or α-methylhomotryptamine components, also show differing potencies, e.g., the (1R, 3S) isomers display higher antiplasmodial activity than the (1R, 3R) isomers (see Yeung, supra; WO2009/132921):

Preparing chiral α-carbon substituted tryptamine and tryptamine analogs, such as α-methyltryptamine and α-methylhomotryptamine, can employ separation/isolation of the desired isomer or use chemical synthetic routes that employ chiral starting compounds for asymmetric synthesis. An illustration of the latter is synthesis of the antimalarial spiroindolines, which can use D-tryptophanol as the starting compound for synthesis of chiral intermediate S-α-methyltryptamine (Yeung et al., supra).
Other general approaches for preparing chiral compounds include reactions with successive achiral reagents that retain chirality, using reagents or the catalyst incorporated with an enantiopure chiral center to convert the enantiomers into diastereomers having different reactivity, use of chemical chiral catalysts, and chiral auxiliary compounds.
Separating and isolating enantiomers can be time consuming while chemical asymmetric synthetic strategies can be restricted by the possible reactions the molecule can undergo, the need for harsh reaction conditions and/or complex synthetic routes. An example is the availability of D-tryptophanol in the synthesis of spiroindolines, which is limiting due the complex synthetic steps required for its synthesis. Thus, it is desirable to develop synthetic methods for preparing α-substituted tryptamines and structurally related analogs that use mild conditions, result in high enantiomeric excess of the desired chiral compound, have high conversion of starting material to desired product, and are cost effective.